


Tinsel

by mistrali



Category: Animorphs
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Mild Angst, mentions of neglect and abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23891470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistrali/pseuds/mistrali
Summary: A&T flangstlet for the Inktober prompt ‘ornament’.
Relationships: Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill & Tobias (Animorphs)
Kudos: 7





	Tinsel

What had I done this time last year? I tried to think back. The memories came back faint, like they belonged to someone else.

Listened to my uncle come home drunk, crash around the house and puke up his guts. Seen my aunt passed out in bed. Played a lot of Zelda. Read whatever issues of Marvel I could scrounge up from the school library. Maybe eaten some turkey, if they remembered I existed for long enough to save me some.

Somehow I doubted Ax wanted to hear that particular Christmas story.

<We didn’t do much,> I said, fluttering down to a lower branch. <My family wasn’t really into Christmas.> I shrugged.

<I see.> Ax’s tail was rigid and one stalk eye was twitching. <If you had been raised an Andalite, as you should have been, we would have shown you our rituals. Andalites have many festivals for different seasons…>

He trailed off. I guess he figured it was no use playing shoulda-woulda-coulda. Besides, if I’d been raised an Andalite, who knows, I might have been the one on the Dome Ship.

<Tobias?> he said after a while. <We could celebrate Christmas together.>

<Yeah, Ax-man,> I said quietly. <I’d like that.>

———

I fluttered up to the top of the Christmas tree and looked down at Ax. <This is so undignified,> I muttered. <A hawk hanging an angel on a plastic tree.>

I hung it anyway, and flew to perch on Cassie’s rafters as soon as I could. We could’ve used an actual tree, I guess, but there are about twenty different laws on defacing trees in our town, and we couldn’t risk some park ranger seeing us glamming up the trees like lunatics.

So Cassie had lent us her barn for Christmas, since her family was on vacation.

“This tinsel is wonderful,” said Ax, a couple of minutes later. “Tin. Suhl. Tin. Tin.” He’d kind of clumped it around the tree, but it looked okay. Pretty colorful.

<Careful, Ax-man, you’re getting sound-happy,> I said.

He shook the last piece of tinsel onto the tree. “Humans have some pleasing sounds. Soundzzzzz.”

I laughed. <We sure do. That’s what we’re famous for. Forget the Eiffel Tower, the Mona Lisa or Star Trek. Nope, it’s the sounds.>

Man, I was starting to sound like Marco.

“I believe that was humor,” said Ax, right on cue. “Hyoo-merr.”


End file.
